Wet shaving talk

Do you guys feel the wet shaving scene has slowed down lately or growing?

I see most YouTube shavers haven’t posted a video in months and some well known guys haven’t posted in over a year.

Have we reached a point that lather just can’t get any better? Lol

Have we reached a point that artisans can’t get any more exotic ingredients into a formulation?

I used to buy soaps and new razors all the time, now I haven’t purchased anything in over a year.


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Do you guys feel the wet shaving scene has slowed down lately or growing?

I see most YouTube shavers haven’t posted a video in months and some well known guys haven’t posted in over a year.

Have we reached a point that lather just can’t get any better? Lol

Have we reached a point that artisans can’t get any more exotic ingredients into a formulation?

I used to buy soaps and new razors all the time, now I haven’t purchased anything in over a year.


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Not sure if it's really slowing down. There are lots of choices and very little data available to know.
The YouTube guys realize they're talking to a small number of the same guys all the time. Except for big guys like Kensurfs.
I think yes, how many more unicorn fats can you put in a soap?
Many of you guys are way overloaded.
Live by the hobbyist, die by the hobbyist.

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In my opinion TWS is growing as many new people are joining this hobby to experience the joys of wet shaving, indulge in something new to kill free time and money at their disposal.

Artisans on the other hand have more nor less stabilized their soap bases and tweak formulas a little to be in the limelight. It all boils down to the scents now. Why would otherwise people buy so many new soaps from the same artisan?

Many of the youtubers have not much substance in their videos when it comes to scents. Many of them have very less knowledge on the scents or are not able to describe it in their videos properly to the audience. Pushing a soap basis it's scent is not what youtubers would like to do with less knowledge about the topic.

I still like to watch videos for razors as it gives a thorough idea on the look of the razor, audio feedback, effectiveness in hair removal etc which I find beneficial.



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I think there are a number of things going on.

1. Over the past 5 years shaving soaps have gotten so good that improvements are now difficult (and expensive) to achieve. Many vendors like Declaration Grooming, Barrister and Mann, and others have said that they are no longer working on new formulations. Guys like Jason Rudman of Ruds Shaves quite releasing videos a couple of years ago.
Peter of Ariana and Evans is working on a new vegan formulation according to a recent video. It seems that Europeans are demanding vegan formulations, believing them to be more ecofriendly. Cutting down native rain forests to plant palm trees to extract palm oil is not so ecofriendly. Tallow is a byproduct of the meat packing industry. As long as people eat meat, there will be tallow. I would rather see the tallow used in shaving soaps than candles.

2. In 2020, the inflation rate was below historical averages due to COVID shutdowns. In 2021, that climbed to 4.7% in the USA and to 8.0% in 2022. Wages did not keep up with inflation. Unfortunately, the core inflation rate does not tell the entire story as the CPI does not include food and energy. Prices for these necessities have gone up even faster than the CPI. Thus, the budgets of many have been severely impacted. That leaves less discretionary income for luxuries such as pricey shaving soaps and CNC machined razors. If you search for the most popular shaving soaps on Amazon, you will find that inexpensive soaps such as Proraso, Van der Hagen, Gentlemen Jon, Arko and Cella are in the top spots. They are far from the best soaps, but for those on a tight budget, they can get the job done.

3, The COVID shutdowns impacted shaving trends as well. More people are working from home than ever before. They only need to shave when they have a scheduled video call. I am retired, but before COVID, I shaved daily. Now I only shave every second day. Thus, my use of shaving supplies has been cut in half.

4. Being clean shaven was once a requirement for many jobs; just like wearing coats and ties to office jobs was common. That is no longer true. Statistics show that 60% of American men and 42% of British men have a beard at least part of the year (perhaps in colder weather). In Britain, 61% of younger men ages 18-39 years old sport beards. This group was once the prime demographic for selling shaving supplies, now the market is only a fraction of what it once was.

Who knows what the future will bring?

I don’t think Hallows has sold out on release for some time now. It used to be crazy. Gone in a heartbeat. No more. I won’t repeat what’s been said above but I agree with it. 

I used to eagerly anticipate the next base upgrade but now I don’t want to hear about it. I just want stability. And good bay rum!   seriously, there’s very little actual creativity going on scent wise. Maybe a few guys but the rest are doing off the shelf blends or dupes. I’m not going to name names but I feel for the artisans that have to keep running on the treadmill of marketing sales and service. The minute they slow down or appear to lose interest, their customers lose interest too and move on to the next shiny thing.  While it may not be easy to have success, however fleeting, it’s much harder to have enduring, long term success. Tortoise and the hare I guess.  Go to your music streaming service and search one hit wonders. Those songs were amazing and then we never heard from them again.

As the saying goes... read my lips, it's the Data stupid. Am always surprised by the data availability for this niche, we shavers seems to be a perfect fitfor a weight loss ad as we grow lighter everyday as a community, however the disclaimer YMMV to that statement is in effect.
Certainly will be great to see hard data on sales or market size from non corporate sellers.

Do you guys feel the wet shaving scene has slowed down lately or growing? 

Neither.
I still shave every day, with a few exceptions.
That's what counts for me. 

In regards to YouTube:

The thing to keep in mind with YouTuber's, they tend to come and go, and a lot of them make up excuses, instead of just being honest. Some people get tired of making video's. Some folks even get Covid, then disappear for months on end, and come back acting like nothing happened. I learned some years ago, that when it comes to YouTuber's, none of us actually knows any of them, and they never tell you everything about their lives, so its even less personal, then real life friendships. Regardless of what YouTuber's motivations are for uploading their content, and then suddenly not, I won't put any of my energy into deciphering their Enigma code, to figure out why they are being weird lol. 

In regards to traditional wet shaving:

Based on the evidence that I've seen, its popularity is increasing. Everyday, wet shaving forums are getting new members to it, it seems like every day, new artisan shops are opening up all throughout the world. And every year, there is at least 1-new razor being introduced and sold. For example, the Blackland Osprey, which is an USA made adjustable high end SS razor, began its build journey in April of 2023, and it became available to purchase, in October of 2023! I myself, purchased this razor in October and I adore it! 

Is Traditional Wet Shaving Still Niche?:

When you compare the vast majority of people who use electric shavers and cartridge razors, the answer is yes, traditional wet shaving is still niche. Having said that however, as Gillette continues to raise the prices on cartridge blades, to unreasonable level's, and people are tired of spending 70 to 120 dollars for their electric shaver blade/foil replacements, they are starting to convert over to the ways of traditional wet shaving, via a DE. Why? Because when you can get a 100 pack of DE blades for 15 dollars or less, it becomes quite appealing really quick!

Is Traditional Wet Shaving Growing?:

I would say yes, however slowly. There are always going to be die-hard fans, that will stick with cartridge razors and electric shavers, all the way till they die. But as inflation continues to rise, and everything is costing more these days, people will be forced to become more frugal, on some of the stuff that they buy. For example, a 50 to 100 dollar Turkey, for 4 to 7 family Thanksgiving get together meal, is far more important, then a 50 to 100 dollar electric shaver replacement head.

In regards to YouTube:

The thing to keep in mind with YouTuber's, they tend to come and go, and a lot of them make up excuses, instead of just being honest. Some people get tired of making video's. Some folks even get Covid, then disappear for months on end, and come back acting like nothing happened. I learned some years ago, that when it comes to YouTuber's, none of us actually knows any of them, and they never tell you everything about their lives, so its even less personal, then real life friendships. Regardless of what YouTuber's motivations are for uploading their content, and then suddenly not, I won't put any of my energy into deciphering their Enigma code, to figure out why they are being weird lol. 

In regards to traditional wet shaving:

Based on the evidence that I've seen, its popularity is increasing. Everyday, wet shaving forums are getting new members to it, it seems like every day, new artisan shops are opening up all throughout the world. And every year, there is at least 1-new razor being introduced and sold. For example, the Blackland Osprey, which is an USA made adjustable high end SS razor, began its build journey in April of 2023, and it became available to purchase, in October of 2023! I myself, purchased this razor in October and I adore it! 

Is Traditional Wet Shaving Still Niche?:

When you compare the vast majority of people who use electric shavers and cartridge razors, the answer is yes, traditional wet shaving is still niche. Having said that however, as Gillette continues to raise the prices on cartridge blades, to unreasonable level's, and people are tired of spending 70 to 120 dollars for their electric shaver blade/foil replacements, they are starting to convert over to the ways of traditional wet shaving, via a DE. Why? Because when you can get a 100 pack of DE blades for 15 dollars or less, it becomes quite appealing really quick!

Is Traditional Wet Shaving Growing?:

I would say yes, however slowly. There are always going to be die-hard fans, that will stick with cartridge razors and electric shavers, all the way till they die. But as inflation continues to rise, and everything is costing more these days, people will be forced to become more frugal, on some of the stuff that they buy. For example, a 50 to 100 dollar Turkey, for 4 to 7 family Thanksgiving get together meal, is far more important, then a 50 to 100 dollar electric shaver replacement head.

I see some of your points here, but once you jump down the rabbit hole of hobbyist forums etc., the saving money/frugality angle goes out the window. We spend exponentially more money on shaving than anyone who is still using cartridge razors and canned foam or electrics. Yes, you can save a lot of money shaving this way, but the majority of us don't.

I suspect we are completely unimportant. Traditional wet shaving is huge and continues to thrive in the Indian subcontinent, and there’s no sign of that changing. This tiny community of ours - with our predilections for CNC machining, bleached badger tips, and soaps with expensive cosmetics added - we don’t matter. Hardly any of the people who make our shaving gear do it full-time. We come and go, and the small businesses who serve us come and go, and the world doesn’t notice any of it. The real wet shaving industry is razor blade manufacturing, period. Always was. Anything else is just a detail.

Enjoy your shaves the way you like them. Buy what you want. Expect that the things you like today will not be around forever, but other new things will probably replace them. We have facial hair and some money, so somebody will cater to us, but they won’t be buying Lamborghinis from it.